so, the question is--- how to get firms which have given offers and not mentioned bonuses to change their minds

11:47,

Go to autoadmit.com, you are not wanted here.

A bonus for billing as a non-lawyer and adding limited, if any, value? Brilliant!!

I'm pretty sure that Baker Botts only pays the bonus if you start with them first in the summer.

Because a lot of Texas firms allow their summer associates to split the summer with multiple firms, I believe that a lot of the big Texas firms pay at least an extra week's pay as bonus to tempt students to start at their firm first. The firms want the chance to make the first impression and wow a new summer with wining and dining before that summer goes off to the second firm all jaded and exhausted from nightly steak dinners, baseball games, wine tastings, etc.

From Cadwalader's website:

Students who accept a 2L position in the Charlotte office are not permitted to split their summer unless they participated in our program as a 1L. Students who accept a 1L position in Charlotte are required to spend their entire 1L summer, as well as at least the first five weeks of their second summer, in Charlotte. Students who elect to return to Charlotte as 2Ls for the entire 10-12 week program will be entitled to a $15,000 bonus, payable on the date work is commenced during the second summer.

Cadwalader in NY has also done the "spend two summers and collect an extra 15K" deal. Not sure how regularly/recently, but I know they did it a few years ago. It's CWT's way around the dilemma that firms can get better candidates in the door if they offer 1L gigs but then often never see the candidates again after the first summer.

That's a nice chunk of change in Charlotte . . . moreover I imagine that Cadwalader attys in Charlotte live with a pleasant feeling of superiority as the biggest, richest fish in a relatively small pond.

So the question is - what is the value of trying a second firm? Probably in fact worth more than 15K over the course of a long career. CWT's strategy assumes that even good law students are myopic and greedy.

Not saying they aren't, mind you.

Baker Botts pays a bonus equal to one week of pay if they are the first firm you work for during the summer.

I wonder if they will keep this up after next year--the big Houston firms have all gone to "first half" only which effectively means you have to go there first.

Along similar lines, I think Finnegan offers a $50,000 "loyalty" bonus (on top of a market "clerkship" bonus) to anyone who leaves to do a clerkship and then returns.

And yes, that's not a typo -- fifty-thousand dollars.

what about howrey? isn't there a signing bonus?

you know what isn't going to survive the recent market slowdown? These bonuses.

The thing about the Foley though is that if you go somewhere else you could do another two weeks at Foley and 12 weeks elsewhere. two weeks times 3k a week is more than 5k so its not even that great of a deal.

The thing about the Foley though is that if you go somewhere else you could do another two weeks at Foley and 12 weeks elsewhere. two weeks times 3k a week is more than 5k so its not even that great of a deal.

When do firms generally offer signing bonuses?

and how do you find out IF a firm offers a signing bonus? is it appropriate to ask during fall recruiting... after you have the offer in hand?

CWT Charlotte office only has attorneys that work on MBS for B of A and Wachovia. There is no work right now and none for the foreseeable future.

That pleasant, superior feeling may not last for much longer...

Lat, can you make a post about which V100 or AMlaw 100 firms pay out signing bonuses?

What is the word on Baker Botts - Dallas? As much of a powerhouse as its Houston HQ?

12:10... yah, but you can suck up the 1k difference while you're enjoying your two weeks on the beach with the time off.

actually, that was intended for 12:20, not 12:10

Hey, Lat, get on the Clerkship Notification Blog story. It's "Calling Day" for judges under the plan, and the CNB has enabled comment moderation, which means that NO ONE is posting which judges are calling, etc. This resource for "information" has been closed in the hours of students' greatest need.

VE Houston offers a first week bonus and a second summer bonus for 1L SAs who return for their 2L summer.

Howrey gives you $10,000 if you accept their (post 2L summer) offer of employment by October 1. I think they do it to offset the fact that they only do half summers. Though if you do the full 6 weeks, they'll pay you for 8 weeks. So with the $10k, you come out ahead.

Oops meant to say first HALF bonus

Nona,

No.

11:47

Dude. I feel totally screwed. My 1L firm didnt even want me to come back for more than 4 weeks! I'm splitting because I have to!

the Foley 5k bonus was offered in my market as well (metropolitan area)

And howrey gives you an additional 10K stipend that you don't have to pay back if you accept their permanent offer, plus an interest free loan for 3L tuition. not bad.

To elaborate on 1:07, Vinson and Elkins pays a total of $4,077 in bonuses to their 1L clerks that accept for the first half of of their 2L summer. A $1,000 bonus is paid upon acceptance and a $3,077 bonus (equivalent to one week's salary) is paid after completion of the 2L clerkship.

Okay. This is getting crazy. I was paid *plenty* this summer as-is. No bonus necessary. And as others have stated, kicking the tires at a second firm is worth more than whatever bonus a firm may pay you for returning for your second year.

how do you convince a firm to let you split if they're not enthusiastic about it?

Foley offers the $5k in Milwaukee. I don't know about other offices.

I can see it in your eyes.You don't have a single fucking offer.

I see you every time you walk down the halls. You recover from your zombie-like trance just long enough to avert your eyes away from mine. The semester has worn you down and what do you have to show for it? You are a stump of a man.

You hope I don't start up a conversation with you because you know it will lead to the inevitable. That talk and pitter patter about plans for the summer. Great summer plans of getting wined and dined in some far off city. Great plans of meeting new people and getting paid to do nothing. Because you didn't get a single fucking offer. And I can see the pain in your eyes.

I had more callbacks than you had first-interviews. I had more offers than the number of firms who would even deign to look at you twice. I've been to more cities in 4 weeks than you or your grandchildren will ever set foot in during their entire lives. Chicago, New York, LA. I can tell you which airlines fly from which terminals and how many feet you have to walk to get to the 6:50 flight to LaGuardia from the 5:30 flight from O'Hare. I've had more money thrown at me on a single dinner than you spent on food in an entire month. Because you had heard about the stories of excess. And they wouldn't even let you glance inside the window.

For me, normalcy begins again when I write my last exam for my last final of this semester. But for you, it never begins. I see you in the library paging through your casebook. I see you rush to each of your classes: a sense of urgency in the way you move. Because you lost the 1L race, and you'd like to move just a little faster for the 2L one.

4:52 = Psycho

Psycho with an offer.

i'm sending 4:52's post to the ILs I actually care about...it is frighteningly true.

No probably just a psycho. And if he/she does have an offer and takes him/herself that seriously he/she'll be one of those poor saps who doesn't get a permanent offer. Get a life.

Hmmmm. I feel sorry for whoever ends up working with 4:52.

I love 4:52. I hope there is more to come!

Geez people. You are giving way too much credit to 4:52. That xoxo/autoadmit schtick is almost a year old.

See: http://tinyurl.com/2uccgm

And to top it off, 4:52 did not even quote the source in its entirety.

I was the 1L in 4:52's post. You better believe I ran faster during 2L than I did during 1L. Glad I did, too.

So with these bonuses, you actually have SAs earning more on a pro-rated basis than first year associates and perhaps second year associates depending on the market. Jesus lawyers are crappy business people.

7:54, you do realize that associates receive bonuses as well, right? So basically you're theory that SAs earn more on a pro-rated basis is severely flawed. Nice try though.

Anyone able to discern the identity of 4:52 should violently assault it.

the identity of 4:52 is a very old post from autoadmit

xoxo
htfh, morons

someone referring to others as morons for not knowing a blog post was posted previously in a different nerdy blog should be assaulted even more violently than 4:52.

I can see the shame in your eyes, Kill Him.

I can't wait to get 4:52 started on that doc review - you know the partner really really needs it soon. Um, yeah, we're going to need you to come in this weekend. And there are 4:52's everywhere, let's get them billing people!

I see that a bunch of NYC firms don't pay a bar stipend - whats the deal with that?

CWT pays a $10K bonus to former paralegals on the first day of the summer program.

4:52:

Did you really have no idea what you wanted? Why put yourself through that much travel and mindless small talk? I did 12 screener interviews, received 12 callbacks, went on 4 of callbacks, and got 4 offers--at the firms I wanted most. I cancelled the rest.

CWT still does the NYC $15K bonus. Re: an earlier post, won't the Charlotte office be ok since there are few big firms there and Charlotte is a major banking center-- don't know much about NC market but that's what I understand.

I got an offer from OMM to receive one week's pay ($3100) before coming out to help move, etc. However, it wasn't a bonus - just advance pay. Not 15k but better than nothing.